The Mouse Factory: Spooks and Magic
"Spooks and Magic" is the fourth episode of The Mouse Factory. It originally aired on February 16, 1972. Plot The episode opens on a dark, stormy night. Soon, the host of the episode, Phyllis Diller, the hostess of Midnight Manor, greets and welcomes the viewers and introduces herself as their "ghost host". Phyllis explains that the manor is a retirement home for worn out witches, ghosts, goblins, and similar "death of the party" types, where every night is Halloween. But before the tour of the manor, Phyllis shows the viewers around the grounds of the manor, while also telling the gate keeper/grounds keeper, Clyde, to watch the gate. Phyllis shows the viewers the security patrol that watches the grounds, and the pet vultures that keep an eye on the security patrol. She then tells the viewers to "watch their step", since they just poured in some new quicksand. Soon, Phyllis shows the viewers the manor's recreational facilities for a physical fitness program. Soon, the tour comes to the house "jazz group". Phyllis then says that the manor's retirement plan is the "living end". Soon, Phyllis and the viewers come to the front door of the manor, but Phyllis forgot her key to unlock the door, however, she soon gets an idea, and disappears. Turns out, she actually teleported herself to the other side of the door, opens it, and tells the viewers, who are supposedly surprised, or baffled, or even a little spooked by what they just saw, to come on in instead of just standing where they are. Once they enter, Phyllis shows them the art gallery. Then, after seeing the guest room, Phyllis brings the tour to the combination dining hall and rumpus room, where the "Over 400 Club" is having a party for the lately departed. Afterwards, Phyllis asks the viewers how they like the tour, and adds that, it may not look like it, but the manor is still as solid as a tombstone. She slams her hand on a small table, but it falls apart upon impact. Phyllis, surprised, suspects that termites are to blame. Right then and there, Phyllis decides to call in some exterminators to get rid of them, specifically, Ajax Exterminators. And who should pick up the phone? None other than Mickey Mouse. Phyllis explains the situation, and Mickey and the gang head on over, while Phyllis heads up to the belfry to feed the bats, wondering if she was talking to a person or to a mouse on the phone. Soon, Mickey and the others arrive, and soon learn that the place is haunted and the person who hired them is a witch who gives them a real fright by appearing right in front of them, evidenced by the three running through a wall in fright. Later, Phyllis is explaining to the viewers that some friends of hers are dropping in for a night of television in the parlor of the manor, and tells the viewers that her television, which is a crystal ball, is a unique kind, one that gets a different variety of shows. She adds to it by saying its a genuine "ghost to ghost" hookup. Soon the guests arrive, and after seeing clips of Phyllis's "family", the Wizard's Duel between Madam Mim and Merlin the Magician from the film The Sword in the Stone is seen. After the clip, the guests don't respond when Phyllis tells them its time to leave. So, Phyllis decides to let her singing do the work as she sits at the piano and starts to both play and sing, and she manages to drive them out and cause the roof to rumble like it was about to cave in. After they leave, Phyllis tells the viewers that her singing never fails to bring the house down. Soon, Phyllis shows the viewers what she calls the best for last, the "infamous" Diller kitchen. Soon, a scent catches Phyllis's nose. Phyllis says its a delicious smell, and adds that it'll never do. She soon finds the source of the smell, a giant pot that three other witches are brewing something in. Phyllis investigates, and discovers that they're making soup. She soon adds in some ingredients that they forgot to put in from the beginning: frozen scorpion tails, and a dash of brimstone. After a smell, which causes Phyllis to make sounds of disgust, Phyllis declares that its perfect. She then tell the three witches that they can't have any until their work is finished, and she leads them to a map of the town that the manor sits near. Phyllis tells the witches their flight areas and their brooms. Goofy is to take the east side of town, Martha is to take the north side, and Hazel is to take the depressed area of town where Donald Duck lives. Soon, the three leave the room and take to the air, with Phyllis telling the viewers that they love a night out on the town. Soon, the show follows Witch Hazel and her flight plan. After the flight, the show returns to Midnight Manor where Phyllis is about to close the show, until the doorbell rings. Turns out someone dressed as Snow White is out Trick-or-Treating, evidencing that the episode takes place on Halloween. However, Phyllis decides to play a trick instead of giving a treat, but she ends up turning herself into Snow White as the episode ends. Trivia * During the walk around the grounds, several clips from the graveyard segment of The Haunted Mansion attraction at Disneyland are shown, and the grounds/gate keeper, Clyde, is actually the caretaker animatronic from the attraction. * When Phyllis shows the viewers the security patrol, a clip or two of the walking suits of armor from the Disney feature Bedknobs and Broomsticks is shown, and a clip of the two vultures from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is also shown. * After the viewers and Phyllis enter the manor, the main theme that is heard through most of the Haunted Mansion is played, it's also played during the television segment before the Wizard's Duel clip. * When Phyllis shows the viewers the "art gallery", clips of the never-ending hallway and the transforming paintings from the Haunted Mansion are shown, along with a clip of the conservatory scene from that very same attraction when the viewers and Phyllis arrive in the "guest room". * When the tour goes to the Dining Hall/Rumpus Room, a clip of the dining hall scene from the Haunted Mansion is shown. * When Phyllis calls Ajax Exterminators to take care of the termites in the manor, a clip from the Mickey Mouse short, Lonesome Ghosts, is shown. After the call, more clips from the short are shown as Mickey, Donald, and Goofy search around the house. * Phyllis tells the audience, after the Ajax Exterminators/Lonesome Ghosts segment, that witches used to fly on shovels before broomsticks, adding that the takeoffs were okay, but they didn't "dig" the landings, meaning that it was an obvious joke. * Phyllis's television set in the episode is actually a crystal ball with two TV antennae sticking out. * During the television scene, Phyllis and her guests watch the Wizard's Duel scene from the Disney animated feature, The Sword in the Stone. * The guests that Phyllis welcomes to the manor are The Wolfman (represented on screen by the Big Bad Wolf from The Three Little Pigs), the Hunchback of Notre Dame (represented on screen by Brer Bear from Song of the South), Count Dracula (represented on screen by Goofy wearing a vampire costume), and Duckenstein (represented on screen by Donald Duck wearing a Frankenstein's monster costume). * Phyllis tells the viewers, after the parlor/Wizard's Duel segment, that in the 18th century, the English tested witches by throwing them in the river. If they sank and drowned, they were innocent, and if they floated, they were guilty. This fact could have actually been true, though no records of this practice are available. * The three other witches in the kitchen are represented by Goofy (wearing a witch's hat and a cape as his costume), King Louie from The Jungle Book (also dressed as a witch), and Witch Hazel. * The short that plays after the kitchen sequence is Trick or Treat (1952 cartoon), as the show follows Witch Hazel after she and the other witches take off. * When Snow White, or a child dressed as Snow White, rings the kitchen doorbell and says those three famous words, it is evidenced that the episode takes place on Halloween. Category:Episodes of TV shows